Game apparatus.



ArnNr OFFICE.

WILLIAM II. A'llWOOD, OF' LINCOLN, NEBRASKA.

GAM E APPARATUS. y

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 695,431, dated March1.8, 1902.

Application led October 22, 1900. Serial No. 33,813. (No model.) i Y To@ZZ 'whom it 'nw/y concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. ATwooD,

ful Improvements in Game Apparatus, of

which the followingis a full,clear, and exact specification. i

My invention relates more particularly to a game apparatus similar incharacter to the game known as checkersg and it has for its primaryobject to provide a game of this nature which may be played by more thantwo persons, preferably by four.

With these endsin view myinvention consists in certain features ofnovelty in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts bywhich the said objects and certain other `objects hereinafter appearingare attained, all as fully described withreference' to the accompanyingdrawings, and more particularly pointed out in the claim.

Figure l is a plan view of my improved game apparatus, showing the menin position for commencing to play the game; and Fig. 2 is across-section thereof.

In ycarrying out my invention I employ a board l or othersuitablesurface or medium, upon which the men and blank spaces, squarechecks, or spots 2 3 may be delineated, and the board is preferablysquare, like an ordinary checker-board, and the spaces 2 3 also squareand of different colors, as usual; but instead of having rows of suchspaces of an even number I provide rows each containing an odd number ofspaces, preferably thirteen spaces, having, collectively, an even numberof menspaces and an odd number of blank spaces, or vice versa,alternately, and upon the men-spaces 2 of this board I arrange four setsor groups of men or checkers 4 5 6 7, which also preferably differ incolor from each other or are otherwise differently designated. Thenumber of spaces 2 3 employed and the number of men placed thereonshould bear such a relative proportion that when the men are grouped o ndiametrically opposite sides of the board a forward man of each groupmay be moved or advanced from one man-space 2 to another withoutimmediately becoming en prise, or, in other words, approaching anopponents man sufficiently close to permit the latter to take it. It isalso desirable that each set of men may be grouped in the form of atriangle, with at least two men-spaces between all of the men in theforward lines ofV one group and those l the edges of the board, or, inother words,

withan equal .number of spaces, preferably men-spaces, at each end ofeach base-line of the various triangular groups, thus in the example ofthe invention shown in the drawin-gs leaving a single blank spot orspots 3 in each corner of the board. In the particular example of myinvention shown in the drawings there are ten men in each group and theboard is thirteen spaces square-that is to say, there are thirteen ofthe spaces or squares 2 3 along each edge of the boardand the portion ofthe board inclosed by these outer lines of squares 2 v8 is divided intosimilar squares of the same size, like an ordinary checker-board. i

In playing the game the men are grouped in four groups on diametricallyopposite sides of the board and in triangularform` in the manner shownin Fig. l of the drawings, and diametrically opposite players may playas partners or the four players may be opponents of each other. Theplayer having the rst move'then advances his men toward thediametrically opposite side of the board after the manner of playingordinary checkers, and` when playing as partners he may take hispartners man or not, accordingly` as i the object he has in view 'mayrequire. the ordinary rules of playing checkers may be followed with anyvariations that suit the differences between my improved gameapparatusand ordinary checkers.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent,` is- A game apparatus comprising asquare board divided into'an odd number of rows of spaces starting fromeach side of the board,

In short, i

IOS

6e another man-space without immediately bei eaeh alternate row ofspaces containing an thus leaving` two nien-spaces between the Io oddnumber of blank spaces and an even sides of the triangular figures andalso bennmber of men-spaces and the remaining tween the spaces of thetriangular figures for rows of spaces each containing an odd numberstartingr the game.

of men-spaces and an even number of blank spaces, and four sets of men,each set of men containing such a number of lnen as to forni lVitnesses:

WVM. H. ATVOOD.

triangularfignres centrally of the sides of the F. A. HOPKINS, boardwith their bases located at the sides.; EDNA B. JOHNSON.

